August 2016 Check-in thread

I know you are all hard at work with your credit goals. Have you progressed as far as you hoped? Were there any unforseen expenses that cropped up and may have thrown you off schedule?

As a reminder, participation in these monthly checkins is optional, but encouraged. The goal is to help keep you on track, so feel free to post your progress updates here. This is a no-judge zone; feel free to say what's keeping you up at night or give yourself a kudo for having it all together.

Did you hit any potholes or speedbumps? Achieve some milestones, either small or mighty? Change your goals or add new ones?

Re: August 2016 Check-in thread

I'm finishing up Suze Orman's 9 Steps to Financial Freedom. It's inspiring me to think about the things that I can do when I am debt free. In the meantime, my monthly expenses have increased like crazy. The electic bill is sky high. My car insurance rates lept up. I charged some frivilous things, so my balance when up a little ($120).

On the bright side, I got down to $0 on one CC account and paid off another with a small balance.

Re: August 2016 Check-in thread

I don't have an accurate score at the moment as I just consolidated onto two cards and paid off leftover amounts, opened a new card and had a CLI. Waiting for everything to update to reflect an accurate score and allow me to not stress out so much.

My goal is to build myself back up to 700 within three months and after that, get back up to 720+. Want to finish 2016 strong so 2017 can be off a good less stressful start.

Re: August 2016 Check-in thread

I am gardening my scores... but the temptation to rack up debt on my cards is difficult. I'm at a place where I don't have too much debt on them, and I need to pay them down, I'm getting slightly dinged on Utilization... and it's time to paydown (as I can). But the temptation (ease) to keep spending is there.

Re: August 2016 Check-in thread

Hello, everyone. I've posted elsewhere a few times, but fairly new so thought I should check in here.

I've been working on rebuilding since Dec 2015, when I learned I could finally get a credit card. Till then, didn't know there was much we could do.

We are self-employed, which is not the only, but probably the main, reason we found ourselves in trouble. Roller-coaster income leaves you no ability to budget and wide open to very unpleasant surprises, which spent about 10 years snowballing. We're still climbing out of it.

Goals:

1) Wait for lates on our mortgage in 2014-15 to pass the two-year mark. 17 months no lates, pushing for 24 months in Apr 2017. The good news is that by year-end we'll only owe about $10,000.

2) Get an inappropriate medical collection removed from hubby's report, in process.

3) We've added 7 new credit cards between us since December, and gotten CLIs on a couple, for a new total CL of about $27,500.. Now we need to garden and let them age.

4) We have two First Premier accts we'd like to get rid of, but they're our oldest accts so need to wait a few months. You know, you NEVER get them down to a zero balance--even if you PIF there's still that $15 "processing" fee every month. Ugh.

5) I have two baddies still on my report. I'm planning to offer PFD for one, but not expecting success. Still, it's 5.5 years old, so worth a try. The other will go away when we can pay it; shooting for end of the year.

6) Immediate goal: app for a car loan (hopefully through NFCU or SDCU) in the next month or so. I hope we're ready for something better than the 14% we had to take last time we financed a car!

7) Short-term goal: scores at 700 across the board by year-end, 720 if we make it sooner. (current: 677 EQ, 659 TU, 677 EX)

8) Long-term goal: sell house and get new mortgage in fall of 2017 (depending on success of PFD above. Might have to wait till spring 2018).

We've had a lot of success so far, thanks primarily to the wealth of info members have shared on here. We're very grateful for that!

Starting: high 500s Current: high 600s Goal: 720 across the board by 4/17.Mostly gardening to app for new mtg.

In my early 20's I had ruined my credit history between defaulted students loans totaling around $30k, write offs, collections, and judgements. My scores were in the low 500's. I couldn't even get a bank account for several years much less a credit card, mortgage or auto loan.

In 2013, Wells Fargo allowed me to get a bank account (after years of cashing my paychecks), I opened a secured Wells Fargo credit card for $500, after 2 years of no late payments, they released my security deposit and increased my limit to $800.

Early 2015, my wife was approved for Cap1 Venture card $10K, Cap1 Quicksilver $5K and Chase marriot rewards $5K. Against all logical reason and advice from everyone, we used these cards to start a business, almost maxing out $20K in CC debt. In late 2015, I consolidated my student loan debt and started making on time monthly payments.

Early 2016, paid off ALL of wife's credit card debt from business start up, my credit scores began increasing, was approved for $22K auto loan from CarMax with $8K down payment.

Now, August 2016, we are debt free aside from the auto loan payment. We move about $10K / month through the capital one venture card for business expenses and PIF every month. Rewards are about $200/month for things like paying flights for family members, gift cards for birthdays and xmas, etc.

Current scores for me are between 640 and 670, I still have defaulted student loans reporting to my credit that are supposed to fall off December 2016 - January 2017.

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